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U.S. Passport Applications to Say “Parent” and “Parent”

On December 22, the State Department announced that they would be changing the U.S. passport application to say “Parent” and “Parent” rather than “Mother” and “Father.”

Many of you may have played a part in making this happen: After running into the Mother/Father problem while completing a passport application for my son back in July, I started a petition over at Change.org, asking the State Department to change the form to say “Parent” and “Parent.” Over 900 people signed, including, I assume, some of you who read my post about it here at Mombian.

The Family Equality Council also deserves our hearty recognition and thanks. They have led the effort for the passport change and have been advocating hard for it in Washington.

The State Department has also changed the Consular Report of Birth Abroad (CRBA) — a document confirming that a child born overseas to a U.S. citizen acquired U.S. citizenship at birth — to say “Parent” and “Parent.” The CRBA still states, however, “The following items pertain to the biological parents.” I know all of you with non-bio moms in the family see the problem with that one.

I spoke with Emily Hecht-McGowan, Director of Public Policy and Community Engagement for FEC, who said that the CRBA is controlled by U.S. immigration regulations and confers citizenship through biology. This was done a long time ago in order to protect children born out of wedlock to U.S. citizens abroad. She says this is one of many issues that FEC is continuing to address in Washington.

Still, things seem to be moving in the right direction. For those of us tired of crossing out “Father” and writing in “Mother” every time we fill out a school, camp, or medical form, the passport change is welcome news. Writing in the correction is not the biggest hassle in the world, but it’s another reminder of how our families are marginalized. It hurts even more if our kids are standing there watching us. Having “Parent” and “Parent” on what is arguably the single most important piece of identification a U.S. citizen may have sets a tremendous example for other agencies and organizations.

You may complete or print out an official U.S. Passport Application from the State Department Web site, but note that the new form will not be available until February 1.

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Awesome news but at the end of these trips, when will we be allowed to just fill out ONE customs form when we come back to the USA from all this overseas travel??!?!?! I don’t know about you, but when we come back as a family, we can’t just fill out one customs form as a family. I have to fill out one out, my partner then has to fill one out and one of us includes our daughter as “members of family traveling with you.” It is INFURIATING! I even once had a customs officer say to me point blank that “You are not a family” and I had to keep my month shut for fear of being locked in a customs office for hours on end.

Excellent point, Amy. I wish I had an answer. All I can say is I assume the passport change is just a first step, and the folks at FEC (and other advocacy orgs) are likely aware of the additional changes needed as well. But yes–for the moment, it’s infuriating.

Great news! I think I’ll carry around a copy of the form to shame doctors offices & the like with: if the US government can do this, why can’t you?

Since our second-parent adoption went through we have switched to one customs & immigration form because we are all legally related & live at the same address, so HELLO. Prior to that I was reluctant to get into a fight over it or take a stand. We’ve only come through once so far with the one form, but so far no problems.

Family Equality Council is currently working on the Customs issue as well. If you would like to share your story with us — please contact me at emily.hecht@familyequality.org The more incidents we can document — the better. Thanks.

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Mombian is a lifestyle site for lesbian moms and other LGBTQ parents, offering a mix of parenting, politics, diversions, and resources.
I founded Mombian in 2005 after noting a lack of sites with current, practical news and information for LGBTQ parents, or sites that looked at other aspects of LGBTQ culture with a parent’s eye. I hope lesbian moms (and others) will find something interesting and perhaps worthy of conversation.
I also created and host the annual Blogging for LGBTQ Families Day event, which began in 2006.
For more, see the About page.

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